Business   

Revival in fortunes of genomics research

By Harichandan A. A.

BANGALORE SEPT. 13. Even though genomics based biotech companies had plummeted in value from a peak gross market capitalisation of $50 billion in 2000, they were far from being out of the market, experts say.

Recent trends point to a revival of their fortunes, riding on new drug trials and limited approvals in the `life style diseases' segment. Analysts at market watcher Ernst and Young reported recently that the investment climate had improved for medical biotech companies. Drugs in clinical trials, and some in limited prescriptions, to treat cancer and cardiovascular diseases, had buoyed the markets, and increased the valuation of such companies, they said.

On a visit to Bangalore, a U.K. Geneticist said genomics research held the potential for commercial applications worth billions of dollars. Even though the biotech companies had come down in value since 2000, they were still `significant' players and `lot of jobs' were involved, said Allan Bradley, Director of the Sanger Institute, Cambridge, U.K.

In a talk at the National Institute of Biological Sciences here, Dr. Bradley said pharmaceutical companies were targeting drugs, based on new knowledge about the role of genes in diseases.

He was touring the country, giving talks, as part of the British Council's programme to celebrate the 50th year of the discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA.Cancer drugs:Wellcome Trust, which funds life sciences research worldwide, had now funded a U.K. based company to help make a drug that specifically kills cancer cells, Dr. Bradley said. Biofocus, the company, was doing the `drug screening' to target a gene called BRAF that had been found to be `associated with 60 per cent of all melanomas', Dr. Bradley said.

On the Indian front, companies were rushing in to make cheap generic copies.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• CII-Godrej `green business' venture
• Revival in fortunes of genomics research
• Bentley Systems eyes highway projects
• Forex reserves swell to $87 b

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu